FARMINGTON — A heated discussion ensued at the deliberative session for school related articles earlier this month, centered on the operating budget which was not finalized by the time the meeting was held.

This year’s deliberative session was postponed from Feb. 9 to Monday, Feb. 11, due to a blizzard that dumped approximately three feet of snow on the community at that time.

Much discussion was held on Article 3, pertaining to the School District operating budget, when residents questioned how the original figure of approximately $16,960,000 was developed.

Steven Durrance, who is running for a seat on the Farmington School Board this year, made a motion to amend to amount to approximately $16.6 million, to reduce $150,000 from special warrant articles, but the motion was eventually shot down.

According to meeting minutes, several people “expressed their disappointment” with the figures presented, some claiming one time purchases were still being claimed in the default budget total.

In the end, the Farmington School Board deliberated privately and came back with a final figure at that meeting, slightly higher, at $16,978,460. A meeting was held on Feb. 14 to affirm that decision.

As some residents inquired about the tax rate, Superintendent of School Steve Welford — for SAU 61 which comprises students from both Middleton and Farmington — explained the original proposed budget would have resulted in about a $1.31 increase per $1,000 property valuation. A figure was not provided in the minutes for the revised budget and Welford could not be reached for comment.

Article 5 was also amended, to include an escape clause for a four-year lease agreement for two school buses at $169,730, with $42,433 to be appropriated for the first year’s payment. The tax impact of this article, according to officials, would be 9 cents.

On Article 6, on the question of whether to purchase the SAU building on Charles Street for $180,000 an amendment was adopted to rather reduce the article to $0, to not allow for a purchase.

Resident Gerry McCarthy pointed out in this discussion the Budget Committee did not recommend this article, stating, “We are down 230 students and getting smaller, while the SAU is getting larger,” according to notes provided by the town clerk’s office.

On the issue of researching whether the school district’s food service program should be privatized, resident Jessica Cowan made a motion to amend the article’s wording, to make it less confusing for voters come March, she said. The final wording of the article will now ask voters if they would like to research the option, “which is currently operating at a deficit.”

Other questions to come before the town on March 12 will ask residents whether the district shall “place on file the reports of the auditors, agents, committees, and officers chosen to conduct the prudent affairs of the district,” and whether to appropriate $50,000 for the “special education unanticipated cost trust fund” as well as $50,000 for Farmington High School’s construction, renovation and repair.

Balloting will be held on Tuesday, March 12, from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Farmington Town Hall.